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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23221588">Desserts First!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dolgelo/pseuds/dolgelo'>dolgelo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 3, Persona Series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Disaster cooking, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:15:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,428</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23221588</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dolgelo/pseuds/dolgelo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mitsuru had read that in a magazine, just a couple of weeks prior. Magazines usually weren’t her first choices, when it came to reading -- since forever, the girl had found novels and classic literature to be more suited for a reader of her type.<br/>“Let’s do it. Or, let’s try it.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kirijo Mitsuru/Sanada Akihiko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Desserts First!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Day 3 of Akimitsu week, prompt: Desserts and Food.<br/>For a moment, I really pondered whether to name this small, quarantine fanfic 'beat the egg whites' because I think that's the climax AHAH and something both of them would really have fun doing.<br/>You know it's the right person when they bake Angel Cakes with you.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mitsuru had read that in a magazine, just a couple of weeks prior. Magazines usually weren’t her first choices, when it came to reading -- since forever, the girl had found novels and classic literature to be more suited for a reader of her type.</p><p>“Let’s do it. Or, let’s try it.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>She had just barely mentioned it to him. Never would she have thought Akihiko was to take her seriously. She had not foreseen him taking her crazy idea seriously -- unless he did consider it a sort of challenge, she wouldn’t have been surprised. Yes, she didn’t imagine he could take it seriously. It was but a sudden idea, born from reading an article on an old magazine.</p><p>“We should… have the ingredients for something small.” continued Akihiko, heads on the counter. Mitsuru pondered on the offer some more, smile growing to color her cheeks by the second. The night had just started, and the winter day could use something sweeter, warmer.</p><p>“Then… wait, I have something here!”</p><p>-</p><p>Some places around the world did hold the strangest customs, many forgotten and buried in the old, oldest sands of time. That one specific page, one of a common cultural magazine she had happened to quickly flip through, had shown and explained her a rather peculiar custom.<br/>Indeed, some places in the world did use to serve desserts first, in a meal.</p><p>The suggestion had struck Akihiko too. A quick search on the internet by her had confirmed the fact; the custom was mostly abandoned, but it did exist nonetheless.</p><p>“I can’t imagine this being a healthy tip.” Mitsuru said, returning by his side with a handwritten note in his hand.</p><p>Akihiko nodded, in solemn silence. He glanced at the note in her hand, before clasping his hands together, closing his eyes and declare:<br/>“We got the basic ingredients, we should be set to go.”</p><p>“The basic…”</p><p>Mitsuru looked at him, then at the note again. On her last visit home, she had insisted her mansion chefs to appoint on a piece of paper the recipe of the last cake she had tasted -- one of the many magnificent creations of her family’s cuisine, made by some of the best cooks and bakers of the country, most likely. <br/>The request wasn’t born from a sudden desire to try and make the cake herself, but from trying to find something similar in the bakeries of Tokyo. A difficult task, to yet be accomplished. The note, still, had remained with her for a while now, kept safe together with many other possessions of hers. </p><p>A look at the recipe of Kirijo chefs was enough to tell her ideal, adored cake was far from basic.</p><p>“Then…” she said, disappointed, “This isn’t appropriate.”</p><p>Akihiko got the gist of it, and grabbed the note from her hand before she could continue. It was a long kind of procedure. The number of eggs to use was immense, it sent a shiver down his spine…</p><p>“Lots of fruit here…” noted Akihiko, eyes scrolling down the many words and advices for the perfect dessert.</p><p>“That may be a problem.” Mitsuru quickly replied. “The basic, you said that. All cakes need to start the same way…”</p><p>On one thing the two could agree. That would have been a long, yet fun kind of night. The prospect of dining with dessert as a first meal though, had started to vacillate. Worse came to worst, they would have had a sweeter, foreign type of breakfast from their usual one.</p><p>It took both of them a quick search on the web to find the easiest cake -- the one that could be made with, as they said, ‘the basic’ of the basics. The most natural and common ingredients.<br/>She left him breaking a bunch of eggs into a cup, separating the whites ever so masterfully and quickly -- a delicate kind action he was very used, as Akihiko told her to find sugar, salt and flour.</p><p>Given the kitchen counter was large enough to accommodate two people working side by side at the same time, Mitsuru moved next to him, cups in hands. Her index finger tentatively pressed the button of a small electric scale.</p><p>“What are you…” asked her Akihiko, raising an eyebrow at the sight of her, tying her hair up and approaching her face to the counter, narrowed eyes and all.</p><p>“Measuring quantities.”</p><p>“I said a cup is enough.”</p><p>“And what does exactly a cup mean, exactly…?” she rose her gaze to glance quickly at him, as she made sure quantities did respect the ones she had found online by the book. Her precision was almost scary, almost surgical.</p><p>He wanted to assure her the term ‘a cup’ was more than necessary to calculate how much sugar or flour to add. But he left her alone, working in peace with herself and the conviction precise quantities did matter, right here, right now.</p><p>“Per...fect.” she muttered to herself, at the sight of the right grams on the display. With a satisfied smile, she stood straight and proceeded to measure the quantities of the next ingredient. </p><p>“It’s… a bit like team work.” concluded Akihiko at the last separated white.</p><p>“You’re not wrong.”</p><p> </p><p>As the oven was preheating, Mitsuru and Akihiko both found themselves sharing the joy of beating the eggs. Mitsuru, who first deemed it a tiring activity, had found her own rhythm and had even looked disappointed when he insisted on taking the lead, now. He did beat them faster then she did, but adding sugar and the rest to the eggs, this way, had proved to be quite the hazard.</p><p>Yet, simply adding flour and sugar to the mix wasn’t that fun. It felt more accomplishing to see the mixture change, a whipping after another, as time did pass than simply begging the partner to stop and add the remaining powders and, under Mitsuru’s suggestions, drops of some vanilla liquid aroma she did keep.</p><p>“How was this cake called?”</p><p>“Um… something about angels.”</p><p>Mitsuru furrowed her brows. The recipe online had assured them to be a soft, airy cake. Could two amateurs even achieve such a valid result at the first try, totally unprepared, with a cake made on a whim and no…</p><p>“What about the pan?” Mitsuru whispered.</p><p>Akihiko stopped beating the mixture, the bowl clutched to the chest as if it was his very own offspring. The results they had expected was there, all was foamy and creamy looking inside the cup. Yet another problem did arise though.</p><p>“Pan. It says… ‘ungreased pan’.” repeated Mitsuru, deadpan tone. A look at the counters. It did need to be cleaned up as soon as possible; she had hoped the cake would have made the cleaning feel less of a problem. Not to mention the little oven they had was now at the optimal temperature.</p><p>Silence fell.</p><p>“Won’t boxes do?” tried Mitsuru.</p><p>“‘Course not.”</p><p>Cake pans were the last thing they would have thought of buying, given their lack of free-time and skills when it came to cooking. That had been but a one-time thing.</p><p>“Try that one! The one we used for our…” Mitsuru suggested, crouching to look for that specific object.</p><p>“Ice cream.” finished Akihiko. “That’ll be the smallest cake…”</p><p>“Mini-cakes are quite popular in some fine restaurants, Akihiko. But-- they’re not served first.”</p><p> </p><p>The prediction had turned correct, and as the mixture did find its place in the small, rectangular -- ungreased pan, the problem did seem resolved.<br/>Waiting would have been the longest, most tedious part.</p><p>“It took us a lot.” considered Akihiko, a nod at his phone. “It’s past midnight.”</p><p>Mitsuru peeked from inside the oven through the glass, yet maintaining a remarkable distance from the heat.</p><p>“But the smell is too good. I think we did alright… it’s not over yet. We’ll have to turn it upside down and let it cool down. I will do it.”</p><p>“Got it.”</p><p>“How much time does it have to--”</p><p>“Once the cake shows cracks, it says. Don’t fret over it, it’ll be good. And you can brag about it to all your troops of cooks tomorrow.”</p><p>Mitsuru nodded, untying her hair at last. It would haven’t been a good idea to indulge in sweet food at that hour, but as long as Akihiko was down for it as well, she did feel allowed to give in to desserts. No matter the result, it had been fun. A unique experience.</p><p>“It was all in the eggs beating…” she sighed, a hand travelling up his arm, to rest on his shoulder.</p>
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